大乘寶要義論

As the Sūtra Spoken by the Four Heavenly Kings (Catur-Mahārāja) teaches, the Buddha said:

O Great King! That person who is sunk in the defilement of craving wishes to delight in beholding women in order to practice the act of lustful defilement, and takes no joy in drawing near to the śramaṇas and brāhmaṇas endowed with moral virtue; for though those ones possess moral virtue, he has come to suspect and resent them, to conceal himself, to diminish and lose his ground of faith and precepts, and to cast away the dharma of wisdom.

The gate of his foulness, together with the foul vapor, is filled with impurity that flows forth; therefore there arises in him a state of deep defilement, and he is not born into a good place but into a foul place together with worms and maggots, and he can find no refuge anywhere, being far removed from a sense of shame and conscience (the feeling of disgrace). The dharma of gods and humans perishes in him; cruelly he reviles his own body and life.

The wise man's talent is suppressed because he has been subdued by that woman. Together with that woman he becomes a servant to be ordered about. Saliva and mucus circulate—all of it impure things—yet he clings to it as if it were flavor.

In that impure realm he is the same as the ox, the goat, the chicken, the pig, the fox, and the donkey, dwelling in the same place. Toward father and mother, śramaṇas and brāhmaṇas, he is far removed from filial love. Toward the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, his pure faith is greatly diminished.

He will fall into the hells, the realm of hungry ghosts, and the animal realm. In this perilous and evil place there is dread, where the iron-thorn trees stand. He falls into Saṃjīva (Sonytra), Kālasūtra, the Saṅghāta hell, the Raurava hell (Rovuva), Mahāraurava (Maha-Rovuva), Tapana (Burning Heat), Pratāpana (Extreme Burning Heat), and the Avīci hell (Avisi), also called the Hell of No Interval.

All of this comes from drawing near to that woman in flirtation, amorous attachment, laughter, frolic, indulgence in pleasure, song, dance, and revelry—thus does he constantly call them to mind. In that place he never recollects the matter of renunciation. Nor again does he recollect his father and mother who gave him birth and reared him, whose loving-kindness is so deeply weighty, who toiled hard for his sake.

For ten months she carried him in the womb, accepting the place of defilement; therein she willingly bore the suffering. And then at the time of birth, how greatly did the pain and anguish increase. To rear him she had to provide milk, with compassion and loving-kindness.

As soon as he reached maturity, they took care to teach him a livelihood here in this realm of Jambudvīpa, wishing to bring their child peace, security, and benefit. Because the parents wished their child to have happiness, they chose a good lineage and arranged a wife or a husband for him. Even after he has married and had children of his own, still they cherish him.

But because he is infatuated, bound up, and confused in mind, he is amorously attached to his wife and children and never recollects honoring, respecting, and supporting his father and mother with filial care. On the contrary, he even despises his parents and holds them in contempt. And when the parents grow old and their faculties gradually weaken, the children then devise schemes to drive their parents out of the house.

The Buddha said: O Great King! Behold how that one has no heart of compassion, but gives rise to a mind of estrangement and a mind of harming. He does not remember the kindness of the parents who bore him and reared him with such difficulty, the parents who constantly sought to bring their child peace and happiness, who sought out every kind of means to make their child secure.

Yet that child forgets the kindness of his parents and drives them out of the house, and moreover, together with his wife and children, often gathers to eat and drink, consuming food and clothing at will. Through this causal condition he becomes far removed from the good path and does what is unlawful, and is certain to fall into the evil paths. Furthermore, it is said that all sentient beings alike practice wrong conduct; only the bodhisattvas do not.

Therefore, killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and the like—having done such things, one is certain to open wide a fruit that is in no way fair.

As the Candra-pradīpa Samādhi Sūtra (Sūtra of the Moon-Lamp Samādhi) has a verse that says:

The fool is sunk in the pleasures of desire,

Drawing near to women, defiling his body,

And furthermore leading toward places of filth;

According to his karma he falls into the evil paths.

The Buddha does not praise it—it is called the defilement of lust;

Moreover he does not listen, yet draws near to women.

Great is the dread—those cords bind fast;

Desiring women, the binding cord is truly evil.

The fire of desire, too strong, must be cast far away,

Like a venomous serpent—this one should know.

Women cannot be trusted, cannot be relied upon;

Knowing this path, one should understand.

One should regard Bodhi as the good path;

Therefore one should draw near to the place of the Buddha.

Having contemplated this, the Holy Path of Bodhi is made complete,

And one straightaway attains the supreme wisdom of all the Buddhas.

As the Saddharma-smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra (Sūtra of the Right Dharma Mindfulness Stations) says: Within all the hells there are those who have sinned, and the hell-wardens, many times day and night, issue this command: You are a sinner who has yourself created all the evil deeds; it is certainly impossible to pardon what you have made. That person has countless kinds of unwholesome karma, and so likewise it is thus. Now he receives countless kinds of suffering.

Since the cause was such, the fruit received is no different. The seed that was sown is received as fruit in just the same way. Because of this, this person, along with the other sinners, has fallen into the great hell of Blazing Heat (Tapana).

Because he himself created unwholesome karma, and because the causes from of old were fully complete, now he must receive the unwholesome fruit of karma, likewise fully complete in just this way. Thus, over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, he has produced these sinful deeds. In that place where there is no death, he cannot wish for a single moment of joy.

Then that sinner receives his punishment until the fruit of the hell is exhausted, or he is released; and at once he cries out begging for rescue and aid. The sinner looks about in confusion, and like a great black cloud suddenly billowing up, then the Vajra spirits, together with vicious dogs, hearing a tremendous roar, come surrounding him. The sinner, having seen this, finds himself encircled on all four sides.

At once those dogs come running, snarling and roaring, tearing the sinner to pieces to devour his flesh. Skin, flesh, lungs, intestines, and liver are severed segment by segment. Hands, feet, and bones are each and all dismembered.

Until his entire body is wholly eaten, nothing whatsoever remains. Having thus been eaten, the karmic force still remains, and he is born again, and over the passage of many years and months, he is eaten once more. Now such karmic retributions as these all come from killing living beings to eat their flesh, harming sentient beings.

Therefore the retribution is just like this.

Again, as for the retribution of theft: that sinner, although he saw that the retribution of karma is truly real, yet still performed evil deeds. Bewildered and deluded without ceasing, he encroached upon the property of others, taking it only for himself. Because of this sin, the hell-wardens seize and hold that sinner.

Having grasped him, they at once use blades to cut his hands and feet into segments. Having finished cutting, they restore him whole. Seeing another sinner, he again runs away.

But once seized and held by the hell-wardens, he is either flayed by swords, or made to drink molten liquid, or tortured, or made to undergo punishment. In all cases they use fire and dragging chariots and stabbing blades of every kind to punish his sin. All of these matters come from the sin of theft; they are the result of unwholesome karma.

He passes through countless hundreds of thousands of years in the hell, until the karma of theft is dissolved and destroyed, reaching the very end, and only thereafter is he released.

Again, now I speak of the fruit of the mind of lust that practices wrong conduct. That is to say, the one defiled by lust sees that woman in the hell of the Ash River (the river of ashes), now floating, now sinking, crying out in terror; and that hell burns with the utmost cruelty. The fire is like a flowing stream of water.

At that time that woman weeps in grievous sorrow, crying out and saying: I myself made this karma, and now I have fallen down into the hell of the Ash River, which is truly perilous and cruel; in this place there is no rescue, there is no refuge to rely upon. I pray that for my sake you will save and protect me. At that time the one defiled by lust, hearing this woman crying and weeping, his karma deluding and infatuating him, at once runs and plunges into that river.

That person too is then burned by fire over his entire body, swept along and carried away by the current. Not a trace remains—only like a single orange. That karmic force then acts once more, and he again sees, as before, that woman in the Ash River (the river of ashes) crying out and begging for rescue.

This person, having seen it, again runs and draws near before that woman. At that time that woman, on the contrary, seizes and grips that person first, and at once she becomes fire and turns into a cudgel that beats the sinner. That person, beaten by the cudgel, has blood flowing all over his body, his whole body shattered into small pieces.

There is no way to save or cure him, like a piece of fruit. The karmic force of this one defiled by lust drags on and then revives once more. Because that defilement is heavy, he again runs before the woman and grasps that woman, and together they tumble down into that Ash River.

In this great hell he passes through countless kalpas, hundreds of thousands of years, until the karmic fruit of lustful defilement is dissolved and destroyed, until nothing whatsoever remains, and only thereafter is he released. And again he is born anew, as the sūtra has explained at length.

In this matter, know that toward wealth, riches, and lifespan one should not give rise to clinging attachment. The one who gives rise to clinging and grasping becomes one of wrong conduct.

As the Sūtra Spoken by King Prasenajit (Sūtra Spoken at the Request of the Victorious King), the Buddha said:

O Great King! It is like the world: if there is a man or a woman who in a dream sees a fine and beautiful garden grove, or lovely rivers and mountains, or sees a lovely person outside the gate of the marketplace—and being deluded, sees these as truly existing.

O Great King! Again, it is like fruit trees that put forth blossoms and bear fruit upon their branches. First they are green in color, then they turn red in color.

After that they form buds and then open into flowers. The flowers having opened, before long there is fruit. The fruit having fallen, thereafter one sees only the bare branches.

As it was before, the flowers and fruit are no more. Now, Great King, it is likewise so. In the world the king always wishes for delight; the king is rich and well and content; the king is intoxicated in the five desires.

He has many elephants, horses, carriages, storehouses, treasures, grain and rice, palaces and towers, gardens and groves, money and silver, rare jewels, great ministers, high officials, queens and consorts, palace halls, young boys and young girls—down to all the royal kinsfolk and intimates. All such things as these must in the end be cast away, must be left far behind. For all these things are impermanent, having nothing solid, not being the ultimate; they are a dharma of change, they are not real, they are not long-lasting, they are moving, they are passing, vanishing in an instant.

In the end they are calamity. When these things are gone, in the end nothing whatsoever remains. Because of fear, because of anguish, much worry arises.

This is loss, this is downfall, this is severance, this is destruction. This is the dharma of dispersion.

O Great King! Thus should you know! Again, it is like four great mountains coming from the four directions. These mountains are firm and solid, unbreakable, indestructible. Upon their high peaks they fill all of space, and then at one moment they fall down upon the earth. At that time the great earth, all its sentient beings, and even all the trees, plants, and grasses are broken and toppled. The sentient beings here and the plants and grasses, all of them, are unable to flee. Even if one had great power, still one could not escape. Moreover, there is no magical art and no expedient device able to make them stop.

O Great King! These four kinds of dread, coming on one after another, are likewise so. All sentient beings are unable to flee. Even if one had strength and power, still one could not avoid them. Moreover, there is no magical art and no device that can be used to subdue them.

What are the four? O Great King! There is the fear of old age coming, which destroys the appearance of youth. There is the fear of sickness coming, which destroys peace and happiness. There is the fear of death coming, which destroys and diminishes the length of life. And if wrong conduct arises, it destroys right conduct. O Great King, the lion is the king of beasts. If he should stray into a herd of beasts to seize one and eat its flesh, then according to that desire it is not difficult for him. This is because that lion has strength. But if he enters the place of tigers, leopards, and other vicious birds and beasts, then it is hard for him to be at ease, and he is eaten with nothing left.

O Great King! The arrow of death, shooting people, is likewise so. Struck by that arrow, one is again confused and deranged, unable to be rescued, unable to return.

The hands and feet go limp, the blood dries up, the brain withers, the face appears full of dread. The hands and feet, useless, cannot stir. Saliva flows and fills the mouth; urine and excrement defile the whole body; the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind-consciousness no longer function.

The throat is shut tight; wishing to speak, no word comes out. The physician too is helpless and has no medicine to cure. The flavors of food and drink—how at that time could they be had?

This person at that time, according to the karmic force of his cravings, took delight and was intoxicated; but from beginningless time until now, he is born again and grows old, sick, and dies. The cycle of saṃsāra flows on, back and forth without ceasing. The spirit-consciousness again departs far away and then returns once more.

This life, because of karma, is how this body came to be. The hell-wardens of Yama are truly to be feared. The long night, dark and gloomy, again stretches ever longer.

When he has just abandoned consciousness, again going out and in, the breath grows ever shallower; alone and solitary, with no companion, with nothing to trust in. Leaving this world, he goes to that other world. The long road he must travel alone, and arriving at a place of terror, fear arises again; he seeks a truly safe and secure road to travel, but enters instead a place of darkness, of great calamity and danger.

Not yet free of birth and death, he floats and drifts in the great ocean; the wind of karma blows upon him again, making him drift without fixed direction. He does not know which way to go, does not know who will welcome and receive him. At that time there is no rescue, no refuge.

The Buddha said: O Great King! Only the wholesome dharmas are, at that time, the place to which one may turn for refuge and find rescue and protection. O Great King!

The wealth and delight of the world are not to be the object of a mind of clinging attachment. All those deeds are wrong conduct. Therefore, O Great King, you should cultivate right conduct.

Speaking of right conduct, as the Chapter on Truth (Satya) says: The one who is a king performs eight kinds of acts to benefit the world, in accord with the right Dharma. What are the eight?

First, toward the worldly who have no children and are solitary, he is like one who recollects and longs for his own child.

Second, toward helping the wicked friend, he is like one who recollects a sick person.

Third, seeing there is various suffering and calamity, he calls it to mind and gives rise to a mind of rescuing and helping.

Fourth, seeing there is joy, he gives rise to the recollection of rejoicing.

Fifth, toward resentment and anger, he regards and recollects it as a condition for departing from error.

Sixth, toward the good friend, he gives rise to the recollection of accordingly helping.

Seventh, seeing the various joys and riches, he recollects them as medicine.

Eighth, toward the body, he should recollect impermanence.

Furthermore, as it is said in the Sūtra of Destroying Evil Understanding: The one who is a king should be fully endowed with four dharmas, and only then does he receive the consecration ceremony (abhiṣeka) of a king, thereby accomplishing the dharma of non-retrogression and non-falling. Further still, he becomes one whom the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, recollects with loving-kindness. Broadly he attains the fullness of riches. What are the four?

First, to protect and uphold the teaching of the Tathāgata, causing it to abide for a long time.

Second, to cast away the unwholesome dharmas of sin.

Third, to guard and maintain the dharma-gates of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness.

Fourth, to arouse the mind of Anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi (supreme, perfect, complete enlightenment).

Here it speaks of casting away the unwholesome dharmas of sin—how is this? As the Chapter of Daily Recitation says:

The Buddha said: O Great King! In the future age, the kṣatriyas, brāhmaṇas, vaiśyas, and śūdras—among them there is one kind who cultivates and practices the right Dharma. This person casts away his house and home, his fields and gardens, his servants, his bed, his furnishings, his medicines for illness, down to his very hands and feet. Thus they seize and rob all of these. Whether he uses them himself, or uses them together with others, then these kṣatriyas, brāhmaṇas, vaiśyas, and śūdras at once give rise in this very life to twenty kinds of unlovable dharmas (things not pleasing). What are the twenty?

First, the sages and saints depart far from him.

Second, he meets adversaries who slander and spread reports against him.

Third, whatever he loves, he is parted from.

Fourth, there arises much resentment and anger.

Fifth, his wealth, goods, and personal possessions are all destroyed.

Sixth, there arises much scattering and disorder.

Seventh, his body becomes crippled and deficient.

Eighth, he cannot sleep or rest.

Ninth, he constantly meets hunger and thirst.

Tenth, there is poison in his drink.

Eleventh, his friends slight and despise him.

Twelfth, he constantly disputes and litigates with others.

Thirteenth, his father, mother, wife, children, servants, and kinsfolk only make a show but do not act.

Fourteenth, he lives by his own private dharma, hoards his own private wealth, yet displays it for the sake of others.

Fifteenth, he hides things from others and conceals matters in order to tell them to other people.

Sixteenth, his wealth and goods are spent and lost in five portions.

Seventeenth, illness and suffering, light and heavy, come to oppress him.

Eighteenth, the one who helps him with medicine departs far away.

Nineteenth, his blood and flesh wither and dry, and he undergoes all manner of suffering and anguish.

Twentieth, his body drifts and floats, and with urine and excrement, in filth, he perishes.

O Great King! Thus these twenty kinds of dharmas are not pleasing. Their arising in this very life is certain and widespread, all because of him: the one who cultivates and practices the right Dharma, the one who has been encroached upon and robbed, who had his personal possessions consumed—whether the offender used them himself or together with others.

Through this causal condition, when the lifespan of that arrogant one comes to an end, he falls into the Avīci hell. There, for a whole kalpa, he suffers hunger and thirst, drinking molten copper, eating burning iron pellets, his body burned by fire that consumes his clothing. Thus he receives many kinds of great and evil suffering.

When this is finished, in that next kalpa he comes out of that hell, and then is born again in the realm of hungry ghosts. He is in a vast wilderness of utmost cruelty, peril, and calamity, where the land is dry and barren. On all four sides there is fire burning, and the wind blows scorching hot.

That ground is hard as knives and swords. He passes through countless hundreds of thousands of years suffering there. After that, in time, perhaps he perishes and then in the great ocean his whole flesh becomes bait.

For a hundred yojanas around, because of that former karma, it causes that ocean, a hundred yojanas in circumference, to wholly become flowing molten copper, and thus he passes through many hundreds of thousands of years. In that great ocean he undergoes the suffering of a hell. Having perished from that place, he again returns to that vast wilderness of utmost cruelty, peril, and calamity, which transforms into clusters of flesh like high mountains, with wind blowing all around its four directions.

On the four sides birds run and leap, and beasts come to eat the flesh; and after a long time, perhaps he perishes from that place, and then is born again in this hell. The hell being finished, again and again he receives the suffering and evil retribution. After that, when a kalpa is completed, he is again allowed to take a human body.

Although he is born in a land where there is a Buddha, yet the five turbidities are fully present; he has no wisdom, his eyes are weak and feeble, and he is also mute and stammering.

O Great King! All such things as these come from him: cultivating and practicing, encroaching upon and robbing the one who practices the right Dharma, and consuming things privately. As it is said in the Chapter of the Moon Treasury (Candragarbha): O virtuous ones!

In my Dharma, one who has gone forth into homelessness and yet commits great sin—that is, killing, stealing, wrong conduct, false speech, and the like, which are unwholesome deeds—that is to say, that kṣatriya errs even with respect to the prefectures, cities, villages, and palace quarters. As for the one who has gone forth, in the lands, prefectures, cities, dwelling-places, monasteries, for the most part they forbid and prohibit him from dwelling there.

Or they speak of disciplining him—that is, speaking evil words of slander; or of disciplining the body—that is, adding heavy burdens upon him. In all such places as these, in turn none of them attain liberation. In the realm of gods and humans they suffer diminishment and loss, and must fall into the Avīci hell.

At that time the devas, down to the Kaṭapūtanas, according to where they come, together with all the great assembly, either give rise toward the Three Jewels to the supreme pure mind, and toward the various kinds of beings are able to give rise to respect. Then they straightaway speak these words: From this time forth we vow that as for all the World-Honored Ones and the teachings they have given, we will protect and guard them.

Together with the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās; down to those who break the precepts of the Buddha, and lower still, those who, within the Buddha's Dharma, do not keep the precepts and conduct, who yet have shaved their hair and worn the kāṣāya robe though they do not take it up—we toward those will give rise to the recollection of great kindness, and all for their sake will give help. All their goods we will recollect to nourish, causing them to be upheld and sustained.

Or again, according to the place, if there be an official there who shaves off his beard and hair and wears the kāṣāya robe, but because of many causal conditions has heavy burdens added upon him—in places such as these we will not support and guard him. We will abandon all those domains, and according to the country there will arise all kinds of flattery and madness, of unreal strife, killing, plague and illness, hunger and thirst, together with the invasion of soldiers, and untimely rain and wind, whether early or late, so that those seeds are dissolved and destroyed.

There will be such afflictions as these. We will not, for that one's sake, make them stop. We are coming to dwell in another country, in which there are disciples of the Buddha who will give protection and uphold and guard us, and there will be no abandoned domain there as we go.

As it is said in the Kṣitigarbha Sūtra: The Buddha said: O Kṣitigarbha, in the past there was a country named Pāñcāla. The king was named Most Victorious Army (Uttamasena). At that time that king had a law by which he wished to punish a man. For the protection of life, the man shaved off his beard and hair and wrapped the kāṣāya about his body. At that time the executioner (the headsman) took the sinner, bound fast at five places, and drove him along to the hill of Mao-Shi Jie-Lan-Fa-Jia, deep in the forest, then left him there and returned. At once, that very night, on that hill there was a rākṣasī named Evil Eye, together with

5,000 retainers, who again entered the forest. They saw this person bound at five places, his head shaved clean and wearing the kāṣāya robe. Seeing this, they at once circumambulated him to the right, paid homage, and then went out and left the forest. After that there was a rākṣasī named Khaḍira-Cumdī together with 1,000 retainers. After that there was a rākṣasī named Fierce-Hair-Strife. After that there was a rākṣasī named Sword-Mouth who followed and came, and entered the forest, and each and every one of them saw this one with his head shaved clean and wearing the kāṣāya robe; and having seen, though they were hungry and thirsty, they did not encroach upon him to eat his flesh, but paid homage and withdrew.

Again, in the past there was a king named Most Victorious Merit. That king had a spirit-elephant, and this law of his was a punishment by means of a maddened elephant. This person again wore the kāṣāya robe, and it was hidden within that man's body, and they had the maddened elephant come and smell him, and then they bound the sinner and left him there, even using main force to hurl him to the ground.

At that time the elephant saw that the sinner's body again had the kāṣāya robe, and having seen it, straightaway gave rise to a pure mind, and raised that sinner up to sit, then knelt down before him and wept, repenting and apologizing. Moreover it used its trunk to spray water upon the two feet. The Buddha said: O Kṣitigarbha!

See how that elephant, though it received a body in the animal realm, yet when it saw the kāṣāya robe still left him and went away, committing no sinful deed—how much more so in the future age there will be caṇḍālas and Saṇakas, together with their officials and retainers, śramaṇas, brāhmaṇas, elders, and among them caṇḍālas. In truth, then, foolishness arises, and out of clever arrogance they speak sweet and gentle words to win over the world.

That is to say: "I have sought the supreme Mahāyāna," yet those foolish caṇḍālas, having no fear, paying no heed to the retribution of the future age, go forth into homelessness in my Dharma to become monks. Whether one is a vessel of the Dharma, or not a vessel of the Dharma, through many different conditions they seek their own way out. That is to say, with evil words they at once do harm to this body.

They keep aside privately the goods they consume. Or again, in different customs, by reason of their occupations they fabricate; or they spy out delay; or by means of carrying out duties they seek to come out of this place and discipline it anew. Thus, even to the point of wishing to harm this life.

Those people, in the three times, do not, when they are born, meet all the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones. At that time they dwell in the Avīci Great Hell. Losing their wholesome roots, they are burned continuously.

All who are wise should ever depart far from this.

The Mahāyāna Treatise on the Essential Meaning of the Jewel (Mahāyāna-ratna-piṇḍārtha Śāstra). End of Scroll Four.